There's so much to enjoy here. The island life with beautiful scenery, fresh faces with good character roles, hip tunes that subtly set the mood, young adolescence mischief, the importance of team and family spirit, the level of drama is never exhausting, I can go on and on.
There's no denying if you're going to watch this series there will be alot of surfing. The writers did a good job with changing up the key character(s) and/or surfing events throughout the episodes. The choreography on the water is done really really well. And it's obvious the actual characters did a fair amount of their own surfing, too! Well done.
Ari is the star of the show. He's such a stand up young character, watching him evolve as he begins to the see the light beyond his watchdog parents. My favorite one-liner from him: "I hate noone.." at a moment when he easily could have said otherwise. All of the characters are unique and portrayed well.
As I began watching the first couple of episodes I kept asking myself, when is the drinking, drugs or sex drama going to steal the show. The refreshing part is.. none of this was introduced (with a small exception in one episode). The entire series carried itself without any of these elements. And quite honestly, this is the part that impressed me the most. If the writers decide to bring these elements into future episodes I'm hopeful they won't sensationalize on it.
Compare Surviving Summer to a much simpler less complicated 90210 series.
Myself, wife and son watched the series together. We're ready for Season #2 please!